Which were prepared.—Each sect for itself, and in its own time.
For [an] THE hour.—The hour of judgment, 1918.
[And a day] and [a] month, and [a] year.—Thirteen symbolic months, the 390 years of Protestantism's siege of the Papacy.—Ezek. 4:5.
For to slay.—To make nominal Christians of, to take away the manhood of.
The third part of men.—According to the World Almanac for 1917, the total number of Christians in the world at the beginning of the twentieth century was 571,400,000, of whom one third, 177,800,000, were Protestants.
9:16. And the number of the army of the horsemen.—In round numbers, at the time of identification.
Were two hundred thousand thousand.—Approximately two hundred millions.
[And] I heard the number of them.—Heard, heeded, or noted, the count as given in the World Almanac, as correct. This is a tribute to a journal notorious for its ignoble, unjust and dishonest attacks on Pastor Russell. “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee.” And have you noticed, on the same principle, that nearly all the encyclopedic references herein are to the great standard Protestant works to be found in every capable minister's library? How is it that they do not know these things?
9:17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision.—Horses are symbols of teachings. It is the doctrines a man has been taught that carry him along to do things. “As a man thinketh, so is he.” The man and his beliefs are inseparable.—Joel 2:4. (The four kinds of horses of Zech. 6:1-8 seem to refer to four companies of saved ones. Red, the Ancient Worthies; black, the Little Flock; white, the Great Company; bay, the world of mankind.)
And them that sat [on] UPON them.—The total Protestant church membership.